Tuesday: Abingdon Press and Heartsong Presents author Myra Johnson presents: Writing as a business: How do you rate? Are you treating your writing like a business? Take Myra's quiz to see how business-minded you are in your writing life. She's also giving away the winner's choice of one of her three current releases.

Wednesday: Mary Connealy's Wildflower Bride comes to Seekerville. Stop by for a chance to win this not yet released book.

Thursday: Zondervan and Steeple Hill Suspense author Camy Tangwill be talking about balancing the writer life with real life.

Congratulations to Glynna Kaye, her Steeple Hill Love Inspired debut book, Dreaming of Home is a finalist in "The Write Touch Readers' Award" !! Winners will be announced at their annual conference May 14-16.

And you can find Glynna Kaye at the 2010 Desert Dreams Conference. The Open-to-the-Public Book Signing will be held 5:45 - 7:00 p.m., Saturday, April 17 at the Chapparal Suites Resort, 5001 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale, AZ.

My dad is a huge fan of westerns (especially all the John Wayne movies!), so I have a lot of childhood memories of watching Bonaza with him. Adam was always my favorite character on that show :) I do love a good cowboy... (great. Now the Bonaza theme song is running through my head) :)

Ohhh.. I won a giveaway! Yay :) I couldn't find an email to contact you with (I probably was staring right at it, and missed it. I'm going to blame it on hunger pains since I missed breakfast this morning. Yeah, the lack of food is blurring my vision! Sounds good anyway :)), so here is my email address: sunshineaspirations @ gmail DOT com

Hi, Tina! I absolutely adore vintage westerns! My mother's favorite was "The Lone Ranger". My whole family would gather together and watch Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, The Rifleman, Maverick, Cheyenne, The Virginian, and so many more!

My favorite was "Cimmaron Strip" with Stuart Whitman as Marshal Jim Crown, who was also called "Tricky Jim" by the bad guys!

The great thing about those shows is that they featured family values, and we watched them together while munching homemade goodies. My grandmother was the greatest cook ever. She always made great snacks and treats, and she let me help her in the kitchen. Those were golden days : )

Hey, Debra! Nice to "be with you" this morning : ) Everyone waa beautiful on "The Big Valley"! Linda Evans was impossibly gorgeous as "Audra"...and you are right about her hair! Lee Majors did indeed start his long TV career on "The Big Valley". Barbara Stanwyck was quite an imposing lady as Victoria Barkley!

Those TV westerns did have great theme music. Not many people realize that the theme to "Bonanza" has lyrics:

We chased lady luck, 'til we finally struck Bonanza.With a gun and a rope and a hat full of hope, planted a family tree. We got hold of a pot of gold, Bonanza.With a horse and a saddle, and a range full of cattle, how rich can a fellow be?

On this land we put our brand, Cartwright is the name, fortune smiled, the day we filed the Ponderosa claim.Here in the West, we're livin' the best, Bonanza, if anyone fights any one of us, he's go a fight with me, Bonanza.

Hoss and Joe and Adam know every rock and pine, no one works, fights, or eats, like those boys of mine. Here we stand in the middle of a grand Bonanza.With a gun and a rope and a hatful of hope, we planted our family tree, we got hold of a potful of gold, Bonanza.

With a houseful of friends where the rainbow ends, how rich can a fellow be?On this land we put our brand, Cartwright is the name, fortune smiled, the day we filed the Ponderosa claim. Here in the west we're livin' the best Bonanza.

With the friendliest, fightingist, loving band, that ever set foot in the promised land, and we're happier than them all.That's why we call it Bonanza...Bonanza...Bonanza...

Ruth, YOU rock the house! Yes, indeed, the estimable Lorne Greene did record the "Bonanza" theme song!

My goodness, what a "Breakfast Bonanza" you have brought to the table! Garlic cheese grits with real bacon bits added are really delicious! Sausage gravy and biscuits, mmm-mmm! One of my favorite meals is fried potatoes (onions optional) and eggs. Very simple, but so good! Of course, one of the all-time classics is a slice of ripe, home-grown tomato on a fresh, hot biscuit loaded with real butter. Don't forget country ham with red-eye gravy. That gravy is wonderful on plain grits or biscuits! Stewed apples are a sweet accompaniment for that salty ham : )

I loved watching Rawhide and The Rifleman reruns when they were on TV Land. I've never seen the tv show version of Maverick, but if it has James Garner in it then I'm pretty sure it's good :). I never could get into the Lone Ranger.

WHOO-HOO!!! SUPER CONGRATS TO ALL THE WINNERS ... AND ... OUR VERY OWN DEB GIUSTI AND GLYNNA SIRPLESS FOR CONTEST WIN/FINAL!!! We are SO proud of you guys!!

Yeee-haw, Tina, GREAT weekend edition! My personal fav is James Garner in Maverick. In fact, I was so smitten with his character in that show that when I started my first novel A Passion Most Pure at the age of 12, I originally named my hero (Collin McGuire's character) Bart after Bart Maverick. Yeah, pathetic, I know. Good thing I grew up ... :)

Hey, Ruthy! Did you see that? I posted a comment with a typo--in the very first word, no less. I didn't preview my comment six times like usual. Does that prove I'm loosening up--at least a little? Maybe there's hope for OC me after all, hmmm?

Another secret that not many people know, is that I am a newly wed.I have been married four years. When we combined households I had to give up mugs. Now there is one cupboard and I have to rotate and weed the merchandise.

Read one of Mary's posts sometime. Then, and only then, young Grasshopper, will you walk the ricepaper.

But you're doing better, a work in progress, and no one expects you to get to Ruthy-level of impudence and casualness. They'd probably have to do some sort of weird robot surgery to have that end result, and I like you the way you are...

Only looser. Just a little looser. Although you DID beat me in the GH TWICE....

And some total loser person gave the most incredible opening known to mankind a "2"....

But I've almost forgotten the accompanying pain and humiliation.

Almost.

:)

Ah, the Rifleman. Chuck Connors.

Oh. My. Stars.

And the Yankees got spanked last night. Not pretty. We need to buy Evan Longoria from Tampa Bay. What a solid player, very Jeter-like.

And I'm thinking that Buster Posey would look great in pinstripes in the future.

My favorite mug is the one my hubby had made for me and gave me one Mother's Day early in my writing journey. It has my name at the top, an old-fashioned typewriter in the middle (because I write historicals), and "Writer" on the bottom. Gwynly earned major special hubby points for that one, let me tell you.

Wooooohoooooo I won a Ruthy book? And I didn't even know I entered! LOL. I live in Canada though and I know that most of the other contests I've seen on blogs don't ship there...so if it's only for US citizens draw again. I'll get my hands on the second book one way or another!

As to Westerns...I caught Rawhide repeats a couple of years ago and loved it. There's something about a cowboy, isn't there? Sigh! And I keep reading cowboy books as well. There's a wealth of them out there right now. I'm even beginning to speak with a twang which sounds kind of funny in my neck of the woods.

I grew up on cowboy movies! Loved them. Had my six-shooters, like Gramma Deb--Congrats on the new baby!!!

When my children were young, we lived at Fort Irwin, CA (middle of the Mojave Desert). Buying school clothes meant a trip to Victorville where the Roy Rogers Museum used to stand just off the highway.

We were always in a hurry, and I'd try to distract my kiddos when we drove past, knowing we didn't have time to stop. Eventually, I realized they were too young to know anything about Roy Rogers and could care less about the museum.

Recently, I learned the museum has closed.

BTW, Roy and Dale lived on a ranch in Apple Valley, not far from Victorville. While we were at Ft. Irwin, Dale spoke to the Christian ladies group on post and was so, so sweet.

Thanks for the congrats, everyone! I'm thrilled. Gayle Wilson is a doll and has always been so gracious to me. Winning an award that carries her name is an honor.

Kav, I have heard that Amazon delivers to Canada...that's a joke hon. We can handle Canada. When we are giving away something that we feel is too expensive for overseas or we do not want to deal with the taxes we will put up a disclaimer in the post.

What a trip down Cowboy Memory Lane! I'm dating myself, I know, but the first Westerns I remember watching regularly were The Deputy, The Rifleman, and Gunsmoke. And I LOVED Little Joe on Bonanza and Manolito on High Chaparral.

Oh, and a bit of trivia here. My hubby and John Wayne are/were both Sigma Chis. The Duke visited their frat house for dinner one evening at Ohio State, and my sweetie was the one who got to introduce him! (Of course this was way before I ever met my hubby.)

One of the great moments in westerns, not THAT old...only about thirty years ago (where did the time go?) is John Wayne in True Grit, facing down those four bad guys, "I aim to kill you, Ned. Or see you hanged at Judge Parkers convenience."

OK, it looks like the cyber critters ate my earlier comment, which makes the one above make no sense. Here's what I said--with the oopsie I'd mentioned corrected, of course. (Just call me a recovering perfectionist.)

I heaped my plate with those tomatoes and strawberries. It was hard to pass up the other tempting fare Ruthy's offered us today, but I want to look nice in my dress at Nationals, so I'm being good--for today anyhow. :)

My favorite western was Big Valley. My two younger sisters and I watched it together when we were kids, and they would act out episodes afterward. Fun memories.

Congrats to Debby on winning the Gayle Wilson Award and Glynna on finaling in The Write Touch Readers' Award. I'm happy dancing for both of you.

I'm delighted to have won a piece of history: sand and shells from Unpubbed Island. And inspiration from The Seekers is a real blessing, one I receive every time I visit Seekerville. Thanks!!

I remember watching westerns as a kid with my grandpa. Definitely brings back memories! Sometimes when we go down, he's watching one of them again and it kind of makes me laugh! He really loves 'em.....

Congrats to all the winners!! I'm jealous of you Kav! But it's all good...I don't mind paying the price for some of my fave authors *wink*

News from me this weekend:

1) I decided on going to Colby-Sawyer College! I'm SUPER excited and it feels GREAT having the decision made and behind me....

2) I got my car yesterday morning!!!! However, since we can't register it until after we get proof of insurance, I can't drive it anywhere because I don't have plates on it! : ( It's just sitting in my driveway waiting to be driven.....

Thanks Missy! It's such a relief! I bet I'm feeling like your son did last year (he did leave for college this past year, right?)....I'm trying to just enjoy these last 8 (yes, we only have 8 weeks left!) weeks of school : (Hannah